A security door is intended to provide a bullet resistant door that is used to protect the occupants in a safe room from external threats. Such a door is intended to provide a bullet resistant entry door for the room. In recent years, there have been incidents involving loss of life when an individual or individuals armed with guns have entered buildings such as malls and other commercial buildings, government offices, hospitals, and schools and universities, killing people in those locations, including those intending to take refuge in different rooms. Additionally, the owners of residences in certain unsafe areas or owners that are at greater risk of facing armed individuals in their residence, such as prosecutors, government officials, and individuals in the public eye, have installed so-called “safe rooms” at an increasing frequency. As a result, there is an increasing need for bullet resistant security doors that can be used to create secure rooms in places such as malls and other commercial buildings, government offices, hospitals, and schools and universities and to act as the entry door for safe rooms in residences.
Conventional bullet resistant doors are often heavy and inappropriately sized to fit within conventional door frames, and they require special door frames to hold the doors. Additionally, the weight and size of the conventional bullet resistant doors make the doors more difficult to open and close. Since special door frames are required, many times it is often more difficult and expensive to retrofit a building with bullet resistant security doors to replace pre-existing non-bullet resistant doors. Additionally, due to the heavier construction of the door, current bullet resistant doors are often expensive and more difficult to manufacture. The heavier weight of the conventional bullet resistant doors also impacts hardware wear and tear, product lifestyle, and cost of ownership. The conventional anti-ballistic door total weight also impacts freight and shipment costs of raw components as well as the finished door shipment cost.
While some lighter-weight doors have been produced, using a bullet resistant fiberglass in conjunction with layers of structural composite lumber, such prior art doors have been unable to pass certain desirable certifications, most notably certifications from UL for protection levels. That is, these prior art doors are unable to pass the protection level certification tests of UL, namely the Level 8 Protection Level tests of the UL 752 standard, which is the level of protection that provides resistance to penetration by military assault rifle bullets, such as the M-14, and other similar projectile objects. Comparatively, Level 7 Protection under the UL 752 standard ensures protection against bullets fired from an ArmaLite AR-15 rifle.
There is a long-felt need for a security door that is bullet resistant, yet is lighter weight, is easy to manufacture, and that can be easily retrofitted onto existing doorframes that provides the desired level of protection for projectiles and ammunition fired into the door.
In addition to the protection of rooms in residences, commercial and educational spaces, there is an accelerating demand for lighter weight anti-ballistic panels that provide protection for certain areas having importance. One such type of area is where military equipment and personnel are positioned. However, the demand for such lighter weight protective panels is growing due to the interest in protecting other areas of importance. These other areas include, for example, security personnel structures, power plants and electrical substations, manufacturing facilities including petroleum refineries and petroleum and chemical storage facilities, . . . .
There remains in need in the art for anti-ballistic panels that are lighter weight that may be used in barriers constructed to prevent the penetration of bullets and other projectiles into intended protected areas.